Watch this Reuters video about the recession fears easing.
In New York – what recession? In Florida – we’re devastated. In Europe, they are actually calling it a correction or a slowdown. In South America, it’s cautious optimism. Most of Africa is still struggling to get back on their feet. But anywhere around China, the mood is still of optimism with the Olympics in full swing. Of course, Japan’s economy is still slow only because it still hasn’t fully recovered from the very long drawn out economic slump.
So, it is not like the world will get into a full scale, long drawn out recession but rather, it will be a correction – a settling of the dust as the commodity prices bubble deflates rather than explodes in everyone’s faces.
If the “low tech” economy is slumping, what will take it’s place? Reality? Well, have you ever heard of a different kind of real estate? The high tech or the web real estate is expected to make big gains. Let’s just hope the .COM bust of the recent past doesn’t come back to haunt us.
This again the time of the entrepreneur and currently with the resurgence of the internet businesses, it’s the young entrepreneur that may come out on top.
When you do alot of travelling for business you’ll realize money really is king – for getting what you want – but not necessarily what you need. Originally, in writing this article I had intended to include a long list of tax havens. The truth is, it all depends on where you live, your lifestyle and where and how you use your money and assets.
You see, depending on some conditions like citizenship or and offshore entity (company – read as investor), any country can be a tax haven. Even in higher tax juridictions in the US, a foreign held corporation doing business there and hiring any number of US citizens can have tax haven status. But always use a good gang of lawyers, bankers, accountants and other asset protection experts to protect you. Another piece of advice from the lawyers – always pay your taxes – do everything legally and you’ll be much happier.
But then stuffing your money somewhere with no other significant returns on that money is also a really foolish thing to do. Far better then to actually move to a lower tax but super high investment and profit climate jurisdiction. You get to save on taxes and make a heck of a lot more money at the same time. There are a few of these countries or special jurisdictions in the world today. The best one I have experienced is Hong Kong with a tax rate of only 17.5 % maxed. I’m not a tax expert there so simply find out for yourself from the proper experts. Be prepared to shell out alot of money to get set up but the payoff is far better than many places in the world.
Talking about costs of living – many undeveloped islands and countries in the Tropical World have tax free status for expatriates as long as you bring in tons of money to help out their poor economies. The lifestyle can be slow, easy, safe (as long as hurricanes don’t come) but it gets expensive and restrictive. You stand to lose on inflation too. And really, you won’t be allowed to become a beach bum there.
It’s your choice. Live in realtive safety and comfort of a place you had been calling home or rebuild your life in a new place and make the best of it or perhaps, you’ll exceed your wildest dreams and become a new citizen of the new place.
Another fact that I should mention is that the world is no longer closed and uncivilized as many developed countries’ governments would have you believe. They’ll even go as far as to make it very difficult and “dangerous” sounding on you should you pull up stakes and fly off. The truth is, there are tens of thousands of multimillionaires in many corners of the globe living the life they wish, in even more freedom than they have ever done so before. Talk about financial freedom. No, these are generally not laundered money specialists, mafiaso types, tax exiles or anything of the sort. They are people who may actually have several citizenships.
If you get interested, check it out for yourself. BUT DO YOUR DUE DILIGENCE. Is this what you’re really after to save a few tax pennies? Can your new lifestyle bring you more money and happiness? Or maybe you should simply stay where you are and rebuild your life with much reduced taxes (properly and legally done) and increased income, no matter your economic circumstances today.
In New York – what recession? In Florida – we’re devastated. In Europe, they are actually calling it a correction or a slowdown. In South America, it’s cautious optimism. Most of Africa is still struggling to get back on their feet. But anywhere around China, the mood is still of optimism with the Olympics in full swing. Of course, Japan’s economy is still slow only because it still hasn’t fully recovered from the very long drawn out economic slump.
